EM Gauge Layouts, Models & Projects

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B68971 is a re-bodied Dia 1/114 wagon, finished as it might have appeared when released from BREL Horwich works in the early 1970s. The clasp brake underframe makes use of the Red Panda kit, cut down to the 9 foot wheelbase, while the bodywork has been adapted from an old Airfix kit.

This unfitted example, again with the top doors deleted on the 1970s re-built bodywork, had been in a heavily weathered finish more suitable for the mid-1980s. A quick repaint has turned the clock back to a lightly weathered condition, as if only in traffic for a year or two after the works visit.

B261446, a Dia 1/108 wagon, but unusual for being fitted with a clasp brake vacuum-fitted underframe from new, and still with the original bodywork complete with top doors. The wagon has been finished as it might have appeared in the late-1960s to mid-1970s.

A ray of autumn sunshine lights up B175854, a standard Dia 1/108 mineral of welded construction. It has been modelled with typical 1960s markings, and the side door open as if unloading is in progress.

B115822 is a welded mineral to BR diagram 1/108. This was the standard design for the type, and was built in vast numbers by a host of workshops. This model is from the old Airfix kit, with weathering based on a photo from the late 70s, when there was more rust than paint on this particular example.

B39649 is a riveted 16 ton mineral wagon to diagram 1/105. The independent brake gear on each side shows that this type originally had bottom doors allowing unloading into coal drops – with the aid of a shovel. Later in their lives these doors were often fixed shut, and the small chevron marks on the side doors deleted as a result. I well remember the rarity value of five-figure numbered minerals by the time I was noting wagon types in the late 70s.

B579316 is a well rusted Coal 16VB typical of the fleet in the late 1970s when the elimination of non-vacuum braked examples was well underway. The model again makes use of the Airfix kit with transfers from an old MTK sheet.

B276453 is a re-bodied standard 16 ton mineral wagon such as produced in large numbers by the Horwich wagon works, and elsewhere, during the 1970s. The model is based on the Airfix kit with a bit of tweaking to remove the upper doors and adjust the framing pattern accordingly.

B9774 a slope sided mineral to Dia 1/100 also based on a 1963 photograph. The four-digit ‘B’ numbers used by BR tended to be on wagon types eliminated by the mid-1970s and I never caught up with one in traffic.

This Dia 1/103 mineral of riveted construction was finished as B26248 to a photograph dating from 1965.

Dia 1/108 B84198, one of the most common design of 16 tonner, modelled as it appeared in the early sixties.

E290529 is the ex-LNER wagon, in a livery based on a photograph from 1963 when a panel replacement had been finished in grey paint of a slightly darker shade.

B192574 from the Canada Street fleet.

This trio seen at BSC Shenston shows some which were converted for steel coil traffic.

Later in their lives it was common for 16 ton wagons to be used for traffic other than minerals. Here's a rake of 16 ton mineral wagons coded MXV loaded with scrap steel at Wibdenshaw.

A 16 ton mineral wagon being unloaded in the merchant's siding at Hartburn.

Loaded with coal from the Midlands, this shows part of 40 wagon rake at Hornsey Broadway.

Destined for an industry in East London consisting mainly of unfitted variants.

The wagons have been marshalled with some vacuum braked examples to form a fitted head.

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Older Wooden Bodied Variants

E224320 ex-LNER wood-sided coal wagon from 1938, typical of many which BR inherited in 1948, and then set about replacing with the all-steel 16 ton mineral wagon during the 1950s. This wagon, in very dirty bare wood, was modelled to a photograph from 1964 when it was probably awaiting scrapping.

P38290 ex-private owner wood sided coal wagon, some of the inherited wooden bodied wagons did receive re-paints into standard BR grey, as modelled here. These were the exception rather than the rule however, as the imminent replacement by new steel wagons caused maintenance to be minimised.

P99335 is perhaps more typical of how the ex-private owner wagons were looking by 1960. Most were hastily re-marked by BR, with the number, load, and tare weight presented in the standard BR manner on roughly applied black patches. The original bold colour schemes of the previous owners were normally retained, but not maintained, so gradually became very scruffy, most had been withdrawn and scrapped by 1965.

P75748 is an ex-Vauxhall wood-sided coal wagon. The once striking red, white, and black markings are a dull shadow of their former self. Wagons of this appearance were common fare during the later BR steam years, but it is still surprising how rarely they appear on layouts of that period. More often the continued use of colourful well kept private owner fleets is portrayed within the nationalised railway, not truly authentic, but maybe more eye-catching than the reality!

Here's a selection from Morfa Bank Sidings, having been adapted in later life for internal use in the steel industry.

Internal use for steel coil traffic at Morfa Bank Sidings.

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21 ton variants

MDV wagons at Shenston Road, built from Chivers kits by Greg Brookes.

The coal load used in these wagons is black foam rubber cut from the Heljan loco box packaging.

The foam is squashed in to fit with realistic effect, and easy enough to remove.

Representing a freshly outshopped unfitted 21 ton mineral wagon.

Earlier all-rivetted example of a 21 ton mineral wagon.

E300320 - another variant of an early 21 ton mineral wagon at Shenston Road.

Dia 1/120 Coal 21VB from the Canada Road fleet. The patch painting on the centre panel was a common feature of the type, as instructions relating to a dedicated route circuit were removed in the late 60s, presumably after replacement by merry-go-round hoppers on bulk coal traffic flows.

B201623 is a Coal 21 wagon. As this example is from the original build of the 1950s the rusting and general condition are worse than B315077 below. Study of photographs show a mix of rusty line scratches caused by shunting scrapes, and irregular shaped rust patches caused by coal lump impacts within the wagon during loading. The weathering finish applied attempts to copy these two effects.

B315077. The grime is applied as a tinted matt varnish, using a mix of Humbrol matt 29 and 33, and then lightly dabbed off the flat panels with a clean piece of kitchen paper to leave the most colour in the corners and angles where dirt would collect.

B201317 is one of the Coal 21 kit-conversions shown here in finished condition, weathered to a typical 1970s appearance.

Hebble Vale Goods - This Chivers Finelines 21T mineral was more simply weathered by a dark wash applied over and then wiped away with cotton buds. Altogether quicker to do than the hoppers, but subtly effective nonetheless.

At Morfa Banks Sidings is a very unusual real-life visitor to a colliery in South Wales during 1970 - a LMS diagram 1951 Soda Ash wagon. One of ten built and irresistible for my scrap fleet, and more unusually a tarpaulin bar still in place when it arrived at the colliery, no doubt to the surprise of the screen operators! The ex-LMS soda ash wagon blends in well with its coal carrying cousins.

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24.5 ton variants

Two for the price of one! Based on a photograph from 1973, the Dia 2/748 Weltrol MX has been finished as B901021, with a de-railment recovery as a load. The wagon is a conversion of the GWR ‘Crocodile H’ OO gauge model, while the 24,5T mineral body is from the Parkside kit. Damaged wagon bodies are often pictured as loads on Lowmacs and bogie well wagons in the BR era, but mostly loaded the right way up!

A block rake of 24.5 ton wagons are seen at Wibdenshaw. These wagons were sometimes referred to as 'bombers' (Parkside kits).

The yellow triangular makings were an easy identification for the 24.5 ton variant, as they were very similar to the 21 ton wagons from a distance.

24.5t mineral wagons at Wibdenshaw.

Shenston Road 24.5t mineral wagon (Parkside kit).

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Tippler Wagons

Iron Ore Tippler B383305 to BR diagram 1/181 is a scratchbuilt body on a heavily adapted Airfix mineral wagon chassis and was put together 25 years ago when kits for the type were not available. This basic wagon type evolved over the BR period into 10' wheelbase versions with vacuum brake, before being made obsolete by air-braked bogie wagons of far greater capacity during the early-seventies.

One from the Wibdenshaw fleet with a scratchbuilt body built and painted by Harvey Faulkner-Aston, shown in later guise as a departmental wagon TOPS code ZKO.

A rake of tippler wagons put together by Greg Brookes head south through Shenston Road, branded for dedicated stone traffic.

Later in life some wagons were converted for steel carrying traffic as seen here at Shenston Road.

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